by Siwe Lawrence (@Siwe_Lawrence) As much as our partying days are the thing of the past (for now), the glory days of certain ‘life’ hangovers, possibly from our own series of our unfortunate or fortunate events, have peaked.
Stu: Why can’t we remember ANYTHING that happened last night?
Alan: That’s one of the side-effects of roofies. Memory loss.
The Hangover movie series was a huge culture point. I mean I’ve personally never met anyone who can’t endearingly regurgitate a line from an Alan or a Mr Chow (“Halllllaaaa, city of Squuuaawwlllaa”) or who isn’t down to watch the squad series of unfortunate events for the 16587th time as part of their weekday and weekend entertainment schedules.
There’s just so much that’s happened our South African lives in the last four/five months. You never know which headline or personal news you’ll wake up to. We’re drunk on uncertainty. We’re dizzy from oscillating between Lockdown levels. We’re intoxicated with mental fatigue. We’re inebriated with the numbness that comes from the unexpected loss of a loved one (covid-19, be not proud). And we are utterly disorientated with how bizarre things can get (a la #KanyeForPresident 2020).
The types (not an exhaustive list)
The “What in the world is going on?” one
During lockdown, we had a period where there was one unfortunate event after another: #BlackLivesMatter, Level 4, gender-based violence (GBV), Blackout Tuesday squares, every bizarre thing that US president Donald Trump has said and the rise of Karen, and AKA’s cough, to name a few. Sensationalistic media is great for click-bait but at what point does bizarre headline after bizarre headline fuel mental fatigue?
Author Dr Jeff Myers, in observing digital consumption, writes: “The battle we are in is a battle of ideas. We catch ideas from church, from culture, from family and from friends. Billboards, speeches, songs, video clips, memes, pictures, Facebook posts, and lines from movie dialogue all present us with fragments of ideas that assemble themselves in our minds. The battles we face are more like germ warfare than like military warfare. That’s because bad ideas are like viruses. Bad ideas can multiply out of control, like the spread of a virus that becomes a pandemic.”
The “I am not sure how I got from the couch and ended up on the stairs” one
In light of the fact that home and office have become one thing, I find that my couch, stairs or any other space have become synonymous to spaces in the house to perch myself and steady my laptop on my lap to answer that urgent Teams call. To think that a bed could also be where you pass out after a full day of Teams’ing is reminiscent of a hard night out, which used to end up with passing out embarrassingly on VIP plush furniture. Hectic. Anything goes at this point and I miss the sobering nature of my desk and chair at the office.
The “Which day is it?” one
Has “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday” turned into “Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Tuesday, Monday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday”? When did the calendar get so muddled up? It was so clear before… but now, because the lines between work and home are so blurred, so are the lines on the calendar blocks.
The “haven’t I seen this ad before?” one
Are you all “now, together, we are here, in these uncertain/difficult times”-ed out? A few months ago, a YouTuber known as Microsoft Sam made a montage calling out the sea of sameness of covid-19 response work by brands. When placed alongside each other, it was so difficult to separate one brand from the other, or ignore the pounding headache from the same, overused words. But, maybe decades from now, this current hangover will be forgivable, when we look back at this body of work that will give the picture of a historical context, much like the ads during WW2 or any other significant world event that’s informed context to such a degree.
The cure and the sobering
If you’ve whispered WTF?! under your breath or screamt it out aloud in your head during these pandemic times, maybe it’s time to stop, identify your type of hangover and find a cure. The cure of these mental hangovers is in no way a Bloody Mary, nor some hotwings and Stoney, umbubudlo (sugar water) or even the green ambulance (Cream Soda). Our president’s latest alcohol prohibition definitely goes a long way in bringing us back to our senses.
But, in terms of feeling more-centred creatively and contextually, it’s important that you find ways to re-orientate your disorientated self. Separate yourself from the lockdown hype. Look after your creative spirit. Do a digital detox. Divide your lockdown days into chunks and identify the tasks that contribute towards living your best life.
See also
- Columns | An Accountant in Adland – Siwe Lawrence
- #OpenForBusiness — Radar
- #CoronavirusSA — Radar
- #CoronavirusSA – Special Section
Siwelile Lawrence (née Thusi) (@Siwe_Lawrence) is a qualified South African chartered-accountant-turned-senior-strategist at M&C Saatchi Abel; she’s also a working photographer and writer. Since mid-2015, she’s been in strategic planning, working on some of South Africa’s big brands in different categories and industries in the ATL and digital spaces. Siwe contributes the regular column, “An Accountant in Adland“ — exploring the fluidity of the disciplines and other themes like film and music that influence our lives — to MarkLives.com.
This MarkLives #CoronavirusSA special section contains coverage of how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its resultant disease, covid-19, is affecting the advertising, marketing and related industries in South Africa and other parts of Africa, and how we are responding. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page. Opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive.
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